Per Mertesacker is entrusted with the job of collecting fines from Arsenal players in breach of club discipline but the German may find himself going cap in hand to manager Arsene Wenger for his place in the team.

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan: We want to finish in top six

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan believes the club can finish in the top-six next season.

Earlier this week, after announcing that Sam Allardyce would stay in charge, Sullivan and co-chairman David Gold made it clear they are looking for at least a top-10 finish.

Today, though, Sullivan went even further and said: “We start next season with three competitions, two of which we can win and we have to be dreaming of winning the third one.

“I don’t want to just aim for top 10. We should be aiming for top six. I want to be looking down the table not up it next season.”

Sullivan also revealed that he is looking to make up to six new signings this summer, with the emphasis on younger players.

“We have got five or six players lined up,” he said. “Most are young players — the youngest is 19 but has already played top-level football in two countries, while the oldest is 27.

“I can’t say more than that as you genuinely risk losing the deals. I know people think we just say these things but we are working day and night and I want to make sure we get as many of our targets as possible.

“Of course, we won’t get them all because it is tough out there. Every other club is out there competing. I can say we will definitely have younger legs out there. We are trying to buy experience but youthful experience.

“We want to see players who can play in any of the three attacking positions and who have a proven record of scoring goals. We want people who take on players and go past them, people with movement because we need to add speed to our team.

“We hope, by bringing in slightly younger players, we will also get a bit more from the players we’ve got, because they know their name is not automatically going to appear on that team-sheet every match — there is going to be someone pushing hard for every place. We’re going to have two players in every position competing for every place in the team.”